In the aftermath of the horrific Orlando terror attack, many eyes have turned to the upcoming Clinton vs. Trump general election. Both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump are their political party’s presumptive presidential nominees, and their responses to the Orlando tragedy couldn’t be more different. Now, a new poll is being reported by Bloomberg that indicates Hillary Clinton has opened up a 12-point lead over the former reality TV star-turned inexplicable Republican presidential candidate.
The new poll, conducted by Bloomberg Politics, shows that Clinton now leads Trump with 49 percent to The Donald’s 37 percent among likely voters. In addition to Clinton’s double-digit lead over the real estate tycoon Trump, Donald also has a bit of a problem with his negative rating. Fully 55 percent of those polled said they could never vote for Donald Trump for POTUS.
A new @bpolitics poll shows Clinton with a 12-point edge over Trump https://t.co/didsf1y01a pic.twitter.com/lXPzWJPXrd
— Capital Oversight Inc (@CapOversight) June 15, 2016
Hillary Clinton’s new 12-point lead over Donald Trump has surged since late May/early June when polls indicated a much tighter contest between the two presumptive presidential nominees. This most recent Clinton vs. Trump poll, however, was taken after some of Trump’s more recent, high-profile scandals.
Namely, Donald Trump has been in some political hot water following (what some call) racist comments he made about a U.S. judge overseeing pending fraud cases against the notorious Trump University. Donald Trump said that the judge is “biased against him” and couldn’t possibly give him a fair trial because the judge in question is Mexican.
New poll from @ABC/WaPo: Clinton’s unfavorables now at 55, Trump up to SEVENTY PERCENT. He’s disliked by 89% of Hispanics, 94% of blacks.
— Brad Mielke (@TheBradMielke) June 15, 2016
Clinton’s 12-point lead over Trump in new Bloomberg poll is extraordinarily-large given structural polarization of American politics
— John Harwood (@JohnJHarwood) June 14, 2016
The judge in question was actually born in Indiana, and it appears that Donald Trump’s comments about the judge’s Mexican heritage may have hurt the former reality TV star in the polls. Fully 55 percent of likely voters surveyed in the recent Clinton vs. Trump poll indicated that they were “very bothered” by what Trump had said about the judge.
“Clinton has a number of advantages in this poll, in addition to her lead. Her supporters are more enthusiastic than Trump’s and more voters overall see her becoming a more appealing candidate than say that for Trump.”
In a hypothetical Clinton vs. Trump general election, Donald Trump does fare better than Clinton when it comes to battling terrorist threats both on U.S. soil and overseas. In the aftermath of the Orlando shooting (the Bloomberg poll was being conducted as the horrific Orlando terrorism took place), those surveyed were asked which candidate they believed would handle a similar attack better if one were to take place a year from now. Among likely voters, 50 percent believed that Trump would handle the situation better as opposed to 45 percent who believed Clinton would be the better leader following a terror attack.
This most recent Clinton vs. Trump Bloomberg poll is the first major telephone poll since the Orlando shooting, since Clinton’s primary victory in June, and since Trump’s controversial comments about the federal judge.
So far, it doesn’t appear that the Orlando shooting will have a major discernible impact on the impending U.S. general election. However, following the Orlando shooting, some major shifts in certain Clinton vs. Trump poll questions were seen right away.
“The proportion of Americans saying the nation is on the right track dropped to 19 percent from 27 percent, when compared before and after the Orlando incident. The share saying terrorism or the Islamic State is the most important election issue rose to 28 percent from 16 percent.”
Interestingly enough, the Clinton vs. Trump poll indicated that people aren’t happy with President Obama in the aftermath of the Orlando terrorism. His approval rating dropped from 55 percent to 51 percent, and his favorability fell from 57 percent to 52 percent.
What do you think? Is this latest Bloomberg poll an accurate representation of the upcoming Clinton vs. Trump match-up?
[Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images]